This document discusses dreams from both a scientific and religious perspective. Scientifically, it summarizes Evans' theory that dreams occur as the brain sorts and organizes information from the previous day during REM sleep. Religiously, it outlines three types of dreams in Islam - those from God, those from one's thoughts, and those from Satan. It notes that prophets' dreams are always true revelations, while ordinary people's dreams may be true if they are pious and speak honestly. The most truthful ordinary dreams occur just before dawn when God's mercy is closest.

1. Dreams
Science and Religious
BY: TO:
AYTEKIN ALIYEVA STANISLAV ZAGORODNYEV
QAFQAZ UNIVERSITY
SPRING, 2009

2. A. Introduction
1. Why do we dream?
2. Sources which can give information
B. Evans' Organization and Islam
1. Dreaming process
2. Scientific meaning of dream
3. Types of dreams in Islam
4. Religious reason of dream
5. Which dreams are the most truthful?
C. Conclusion
1. Who could dream good things only?
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3. INTRODUCTION
"Those of you with the truest dreams will be
those who are most truthful in speech".
Prophet Muhammad(S)
Questions related to dreams have fascinated philosophers for thousands of
years. Why do we dream? While many theories have been proposed, not single
consensus has emerged. Considering the enormous amount of time we spend in a
dreaming state(during a typical lifespan, a human spends a total of about six years
dreaming which is about two hours each night.), the fact that researchers do not yet
understand the purpose of dreams may seem baffling. However, it is important to
consider that science is still unraveling the exact purpose and function of sleep itself.
We can only get information by means of different theories and "Evans' Organization"
is the most interesting.
Evans' Organization
According to Evans, every time we go to sleep our brain disengages from the
external world and uses this time to sort through and organize all the information that
was taken in during the day. Sleep, especially during REM sleep, is when the brain
becomes isolated for the sensory and motor neural pathways. During this time our
data banks and program files are opened and begin analyze what happened during
the day. While we dream the brain comes back on-line for a short period of time and
the conscious mind is allowed to observe a small sample of the programs that are
being run. The brain attempts to interpret this information in the same way it would
during the wakeful state, what is created from these samples of information is a
dream. In a nutshell, dreams are nothing more than a minute amount of the
information that is being scanned and sorted during REM sleep.
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4. DREAMS IN ISLAM
There are 3 kind of dreams in Islam :
1.Rahmaani (those that come from Allah) 2.Nafsaani (those that come from what a
person thinks about when he is awake, and he sees it when he is asleep)3. Shaytaani
(a dream which causes distress, those that come from the Shaytaan). For Quran and
Hadith we can have several types of dream.
One is the dream or the vision of the Prophets. These dreams are always true,
as these are revelations from God to His Messengers (may Allah be pleased with
them) the dreams of the Prophets are wahy (revelation) for they are protected from
the Shaytaan.
So far as the dreams of the ordinary persons are concerned, these can be
divided into two kinds.
One is the vision seen by the noble and pious men in a state of mind when even
in sleep the lower elements in the soul are dominated by the noble elements in man.
Thus their dreams represent a truth.
These cannot be called authentic prophecies because no other human being,
besides the Prophets, can have complete control over his lower elements in the state
of sleep and thus remain absolutely free from its effects.
The second type of dream which has been called HULM in the Quran and the
Sunnah is in fact the expression of one’s suppressed carnal desires. This is what has
been termed in the Hadith as a vision emanating from the devil.
The most truthful of dreams are those that are seen at the time of suhoor (just
before dawn), for this is the time when Allah descends and when mercy and
forgiveness are close. It is also the time when the devils are quiet, unlike the time of
darkness just after sunset, when the devils and devilish souls spread out.
Whoever wants to have true dreams should strive to speak honestly, eat halaal
food, adhere to the commandments of shari'ah, avoid that which Allah and His
Messenger have forbidden, sleep in a state of complete purity facing the Qiblah, and
remember Allah until he feels his eyelids drooping. If he does all this, then his dreams
can hardly be untrue.
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5. REFERENCES
1. http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/p/dream-theories.htm
2. http://www.deenislam.co.uk/dreams/Dreamsinislam.htm
3. SIGMUND FREUD (1994) The interpretations of dreams, ISBN 067960121X
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